Vil·la romana dels Munts (Els Munts Roman Villa) is one of the best preserved Roman villas in the Iberian peninsula, the Roman province of Hispania. It's located in modern-day Altafulla (Camp de Tarragona, Catalonia), in the countryside near the important Roman city of Tarraco (modern-day Tarragona). The villa's archaeological remains are included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Archaeological Ensemble of Tarraco".
The oldest part of the villa dates from the 1st century AD, when it was a small farming villa, but it was soon abandoned. In the early 2nd century AD, the old villa was demolished and the place was rebuilt as a large, aristocratic villa: it still kept having a significant agricultural role, but included a magnificent and luxurious residence area. To get an idea of how luxurious it was, a normal 2nd-century Roman villa might have one marble covering, while Els Munts has hundreds of coverings made of marble imported from the Eastern Mediterranean and the North of Africa. The residence also had wall paintings, mosaic floors, statues, fountains, and artificial ponds. The villa also included a bath house and a the largest temple of the Mithraic religion known in the Western Roman Empire.
When the Roman emperor Hadrian stayed in Tarraco the winter of 122-123 AD, it's thought that this villa could have been the place where he was staying. A statue of Antinous (Hadrian's lover) was found in Els Munts.
Statue of Antinous, Higea, and Asclepios found in Els Munts. Nowadays in Museu Nacional Arqueològic de Tarragona.
The villa was partially destroyed by a fire in the late 3rd century, starting its decline. In the early 5th century, it was remodelled into a Late Roman villa and then a Visigothic one, and was in use until the 7th century.
Photos by Quim Roser/Dep. Cultura, ArqueoXarxa, Manel AntolÃ/Tarragona Turisme, Tjerk van der Meulen/Ara, MNAT - Google Arts and Culture. Drawing reconstruction by Hugo Prades/MNAT. Information from Museu Nacional Arqueològic de Tarragona and Ara (Josep Anton Remolà ).
